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After this past summer's very public breakup between ZHA and the Japan Sport Council (JSC) over the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Stadium, images for two new stadium options have been revealed. Conspicuously missing in the press release, the name(s) of the architect(s). See here for images of the new proposed stadiums and here and here for background on the fallout between the two parties.

Briefly, the JSC claimed that Hadid's design was too expensive and not possible to construct on time or budget. ZHA vehemently disagreed with this assessment of the project and counterclaimed that the bidding and pricing process was mismanaged. It also appears that a number of well known Japanese architects circled the wagons to insist that a Japanese architect provide the design for a Japanese national stadium. Lastly, the form of the stadium was criticized (unfairly in my opinion) as looking like a vagina and / or a bicycle helmet.

Wait. What?

ZHA National Stadium proposal.

Such disparate associations projected on the form of the structure must be an architectural Rorschach test exposing the observer's penetralia for all to know. I'll leave the specific psychoanalysis to the professionals.

Regardless, it will be interesting to see which of the two designs will be selected, who the architect is, and more compelling, will the venue be completed on time for the 2019 Rugby Championships and then the 2020 Olympics? Time will tell.

[Update]

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